A multiples bet is when a bet is placed on a number of sequential events. If the first event is successful, that is your bet wins, then the return on that bet is placed on the next event. If that also wins, then the return is placed on the successive event and so on.
Generally multiples bets are called a double, a treble or an accumulator, and these refer to the number of successive events that are bet on. A double is two events, a treble is three events, and the term accumulator is generally reserved for more than three events.
It is possible to win large amounts of money on multiples, but the chances of doing so are diminishingly probable with the increasing number of events.
Lets say that at the Cheltenham Festival we think that several of the favourites are likely to win, but the odds being offered are a little too low so that to win anything significant we would need to risk too much of our money. Instead we opt to go for an accumulator. We know that the chances of winning the accumulator are low, so we won’t risk too much money. Say we will just bet £10.00 on our string of favourites winning.
So we place a £10.00 four horse accumulator on Dunguib to win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at 5/6; Rite Of Passage to win the Neptune Investment Novices’ Hurdle at 4/1; Master Minded to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase at 6/4; and Kauto Star to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup at 11/8.
If any of these horses fail to win we receive nothing, but iff the all win this is what happens.
Winning the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle returns £18.33; this is staked on the next race so winning the Neptune Investment Novices’ Hurdle returns a total of £91.65; winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase returns a total of £229.13; and winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup returns a total of £544.17.
Wonderful, we have turned our £10.00 into £544.17 just by betting on a few favourites. Multiples are a fun way to bet with the chance of turning small stakes into significant wins. The downside is the chances of losing are also very high.